GDC spent thousands on restaurants and hotels
And £1,410 on a trip to ‘escape rooms’ in London’s Oxford Street
Employees of the General Dental Council (GDC) have been using company credit cards to pay for meals and stays in hotels, a Freedom of Information (FOI) request has revealed.
Among the items of expenditure were a:
- £2,310 bill for the Hotel du Vin boutique hotel chain in October 2024;
- £1,636 meal at the Ask Italian restaurant in London’s Mayfair in December 2025;
- £1,410 trip to a series ‘escape rooms’ on London’s Oxford Street in August 2025;
- £550 meal at the Dishoom Indian restaurant in Birmingham in December 2025;
- £476 bill for the Riva Blu restaurant and cocktail bar in Birmingham in April 2025.
The FOI request was made by the dental news website GDPUK. It revealed that the regulator has spent almost £400,000 on the cards since 2023, which “includes general sustenance but also some more upmarket restaurant meals and hotels, as well as team-building days.”
It notes that the cards are mainly funded through the registration fees of dental professionals and according to the GDC’s policy, they are only meant to be used for official business and on items which are “value for money”.
A GDC spokesman is quoted as saying: “Corporate credit card spending is subject to a clear policy setting out that all expenditure must be for GDC business purposes and represent value for money, and a fully itemised receipt is required for every transaction. Every payment referenced complies with our expenses policy, regardless of the supplier.’
“Many of the payments referred to relate to group meals, meetings or events, rather than individual spend. For example, where individuals travelling across the UK for meetings share a single bill for accommodation or food, this can appear as one larger transaction rather than several smaller ones. All such spend falls within our published per-head meal allowances.”